SW 4070 Selected Topics: International Health and Mental Healthcare in Belize
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Louisiana State University School of Social Work SW 4070 Selected Topics: International Health and Mental Healthcare in Belize Instructors: Contact Information: Margo Abadie, PhD, LCSW 225-578-8254 Associate Professor, Clinical Rehabilitation Counseling [email protected] LSU Health Sciences Center School of Allied Health Frank R. Campbell, PhD, LCSW, CT 225-924-1431 Executive Director, Baton Rouge Crisis Intervention Center [email protected] Essie Cockrell, MS, RN 225-578-8281 Faculty Advisor [email protected] LSU Health Sciences, School of Nursing Regina Trudy Praetorius, MSSW, LCSW 225-802-0147 Instructor, LSU Academic Programs Abroad [email protected] LSU AgCenter Institutional Research and Organizational Development Community Partners: Baton Rouge Crisis Intervention Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana Pallotti School in Belize City, Belize, Central America The Baton Rouge Crisis Intervention Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana Required reading - Kidder, Tracy (2004). Mountains Beyond Mountains. New York: Random House. Class Meeting Time: A calendar with dates and times for class meetings, guest lecturers, activities, and field experiences is attached. Class Location: Class will include sessions in Baton Rouge, LA and in Belize, Central America. SW 4070: International health and mental health care (3). May be taken for a maximum of 9 semester hours when topics vary. Health and mental health care practice and policy in an international setting. An integral part of course instruction is a service-learning component, which involves partnerships with social service agencies in the community. SW 4070, a service-learning course, examines issues in healthcare service delivery (mental and physical healthcare) in Belize. Students interface in the Belizean community, specifically through a partnership with Pallotti High School, an all-girls Catholic high school. Because of this partnership, one area of focus for the course will be how delivery of these services impacts education in the country. The course originates in Baton Rouge, LA with a series of lectures and experiential activities (20 hours of study) designed to expose students to the cultures of Belize and prepare them for service-learning activities. After arriving in Belize, a variety of key lecturers will provide information on the culture, health and mental health care services, and daily life of Belizean citizens. Three main topics to be addressed will be health and mental health care services and their impact on education. The Service-learning components include: Two workshops at the Baton Rouge Crisis Intervention Center in Baton Rouge to teach basic helping skills, which include basic communication skills such as active listening, paraphrasing, tuning in, use of probes, clarification, encouragers, and summarization. Role-playing exercises will be included. An all-day conference at Pallotti School where LSU students teach senior and junior high school students the importance of mentoring and the necessary skills for them to help the elementary students at Pallotti’s School. Students will also conduct small support groups the following afternoon to help students recognize the importance of using community resources, and teach them advocacy skills to help them learn to take care of themselves, physically and emotionally. This is a mandatory summer programs that require all students at Pallotti’s High School to attend. Students will assist faculty and administrators with the National Health Service in Belize to organize and deliver an all day conference to interested professionals (nurses, physicians, counselors, and other health care workers as identified by the program director). The headquarters of the conference will be the National Aids Coalition located in Belize City. The faculty and students will work with a group of high-risk students who have been identified by Pallotti School Administrators that need help with such issues as conflict resolution, anger management, interpersonal communications, empathy building skills, and active listening techniques. These resources and skills are beyond the reach of the faculty and staff at Pallotti’s School. Course Objectives: Upon completion of this course, students will be able to: 1. Discuss and articulate the differences and similarities between US and Belizean healthcare and mental healthcare policies and how they impact service delivery. 2. Apply critical thinking skills to gain an understanding and appreciation of human diversity and also to explore your own political and social understanding of equal justice. 3. Conceptualize the strengths of different cultures in Belize, using the person-in- environment framework particularly as it relates to healthcare and mental healthcare services. 4. Understand and interpret the differences and similarities in the history of the social work profession both domestically and abroad. 5. Integrate social work values, ethics, and principles as related to understanding different cultures and health care delivery strategies. 6. Demonstrate the basic communication skills learned at the BRCIC. Reading Schedule* (Please be sure to read the links in the menus on the left of the June 26 and 29 WebPages): Pre Departure Lectures are May 25th, Dr. Abadie’s home (map send through email), June 3rd and June 10th at the Baton Rouge Crisis Center. READINGS: It is required that you read three of the following selected readings: These and your Internet source listed below will be the foundation for your reflection papers and Journal. The readings are: Journal of International and Comparative Social Welfare, Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, International Social Work, Children and Schools, Ethnic & Cultural Diversity in Social Work, and Evaluation & the Health Professions. The web sites listed below are suggested readings before departure. These topics will be discussed in class and your participation in these exercise are required. June 26 About Belize http://www.belize.gov.bz/belize/welcome.shtml 27 National Health Insurance (NHI) Overview http://www.socialsecurity.org.bz/nhi/welcome.html NHI Patient Manual http://www.socialsecurity.org.bz/nhi/questions.html NHI FAQ http://www.socialsecurity.org.bz/nhi/questions.html http://www.socialsecurity.org.bz/nhi/faqs.html 28 Ministry of Human Development: Chapters I-III http://www.belize.gov.bz/library/humandevelopmen t/welcome.html 29 Lamanai Ruin http://www.rom.on.ca/digs/belize/on-land.html Maya Culture http://www.jaguar-sun.com/maya.html June 30 – July 9 No Readings Students are required to: A. Read assignments required by the instructors. B. Attend all sessions, excursions, and field trips. C. Write a three to four page Reflection paper for each class attended while in the country of Belize. Attached you will find a copy of the ORID Model that is used as a guideline in Service-Learning Education. This will be discussed the first class. Please use this in addition to information you have learned as you travel throughout the country of Belize. D. Complete a Task Group assignment related to identified needs of the community partner or selected by the instructors. The Task Groups are, Pallotti High School Committee, Conference Committee, Radisson Hotel Group (part of the responsibility includes setting up the rooms for teaching and also the conference) and the Sun Breeze Hotel (similar responsibilities). These assignments will evolve as we meet with designated representatives. E. Complete a scrapbook chronicling experiences during class activities and free time (Due July 25, 2005). You are encouraged to be highly creative in this venture. In the past students have chronicle by using black and white photos and memorabilia from all the areas we visited such as shells, moss, postcards, and pictures with the citizens of Belize. Students have chronicled their events with a video camera and documented along with the presentation. This is the time that you can show off your artistic and creative side to earn your full points. F. Final Project: Write a book review on Mountains Beyond Mountains (see below). G. Instructional Methods: Instructional methods include seminar-style discussions, US and Belizean guest lecturers, and field experiences in a variety of healthcare, social service and education related settings in and around Belize. Pre-departure discussions incorporate didactic and experiential instructional methods such as role-playing, small group exercises and project groups. Learning is facilitated by the use of written assignments, readings, service-learning activities, and active individual & group participation. Grading The assignments are weighted as follows: 1. Guest Lectures, Excursions, Field Trips, (since these are official classes it is necessary that you write the required three to four page reflection papers for each class) worth 30 points. Task Group participation (10 points), and Scrap Book (10 points). TOTAL 50% 2. Final Project - Write a book review of Mountains Beyond Mountains approximately eight pages long, doubled spaced. Please select five of the questions at the back of the book and weave these into a book review. Use the following sources for writing a critical book review, www.uky.edu/LCC/HIS/review.html and www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/review.html. Your questions will serve as topic sentences and you will find that the transition from one paragraph to another can be made easily. All students MUST answer the following question and relate this questions to your book Mountains Beyond Mountains. “You have spent two weeks in Belize,